Chapter 73. Just a moment, bro (6)
A large red ribbon tied behind the waist.
White lace pink skirt that goes down to the knees. A white blouse with full sleeves and white shoes with a lace ribbon made of the same material as the blouse and tied around the ankles.
If you just looked at it, it was just a pretty outfit that went really well with her chocolate-colored half-up hair. But if you look at it differently. So, to be exact.
“Meong!”
If you look at it from a cat’s perspective.
“Ew!”
“……Niang!”
It’s nice, it’s cute, it’s just a big toy that moves.
“Is it exciting because it’s shaking?”
“Ew!”
“Nyan!”
“Wow, are you giving me an answer?”
“Miowong!”
The place where the two cats, who used a human as a toy, was located in the annex of the Rubia Pavilion. Among the Rubia pavilions where envoys from other countries could stay, it was a place provided only to special VIPs.
As it was for that purpose, it was a place that boasted the wealth of Kairis to guests from other countries and was famous for being decorated in a truly luxurious manner to provide an environment suited to their standard of living.
It was a slightly smaller area than Chermil Palace, but it had everything there was to need. Next to the road dividing the two regular buildings and one annex was a well-maintained garden and a moderately sized pond. As you walk along the path decorated with flowers that bloom each season, you will come across a huge fountain with carvings of Sispanian and Hatsuara. The view of the annex unfolding behind it. Everyone could not help but admire the white marble building with its beautiful black sculptures.
Of course, this beauty also appears from the human perspective.
Likewise, if you look at it differently.
“Tight!”
For example, for the duck with the blue ribbon, it was just a big playground where he could swim and rummage around.
“…… what.”
A place that is beautiful to the human eye. In that place, Arianne’s expression changed as she was just watching the three animals having fun. Soon, a voice full of caution rang through the garden of the Lubia Annex.
“Why why? Why are you coming to me all of a sudden?”
Arianne was carefree even with the silver-white cat that kept jumping up to grab the end of the red ribbon tied around her waist and the gray cat that nudged the lace ribbon tied around her ankle, but after taking a walk around the pond, she threw her body into the water of the fountain. After soaking it some more, I couldn’t just leave the wet duck that was running towards me asking for a hug now that I was done playing with it.
Arianne, convinced that her duck’s destination was her own arms, hastily opened her mouth.
[clean!]
It was probably the most desperate clean in the world.
Demirea laughed softly. Lillie, who was next to her, just had a look of wonder on her face.
“Arianne is a wizard?”
Arianne answered, picking up her instantly fluffy white duck and gently stroking her round, hard head.
“No. I am a person who deals with the law. I also deal with magic, medicine, and my fiancé.”
“wow…….”
Even though she knows a lot of things, she is definitely a judicial officer based on her profession.
Lillie asked, her eyes becoming brighter.
“Why don’t you do wizards?”
“Does the wizard look best?”
“yes.”
“Why do you think so?”
“The knights said that. They say wizards are the hardest to deal with.”
“That’s because Kairis wizards are especially stubborn….”
“Lady Lin.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve never been with babies before, so I didn’t know.”
Arianne, who felt comfortable with her mind and with her mouth at ease, apologized to Demirea. Then, looking at her Lyrie, she narrowed one of her eyes and then gave her answer.
“The reason knights are reluctant to fight wizards is not only because they find it difficult to win in a fight, but also because of their way of thinking. They think very differently. They are polar opposites. Well, I mean, they don’t really get along. It’s just because wizards are stronger and a better job. “No.”
I was saying this because I did not know that if these two people, who were so polar opposites, entered the palace, within a month they would be drinking the same carbonated water and debating how to successfully erect a statue of the Three Princes in the exact center of Wilhelm Pavilion and survive with both body and limb intact.
Demirea, who swallowed her cherry-scented black tea along with the heartbreaking truth that she didn’t need to tell, asked while looking at Riri.
“Liri. Do you want to learn magic other than the sword?”
“If I learn magic, can I become a wizard?”
“Whatever you want to do.”
If you want to learn medicine, there’s Veronica. If you want to learn magic, there’s Alan and Calian. If you want to do something other than magic or swords, I was planning on calling anyone and teaching them. If I wanted to continue learning the sword, I would teach Brisen’s swordsmanship as promised by Calian, but I had no intention of forcing him.
Brisen, whether the price is cut off or not.
Isn’t this an important issue for Demirea and Riri?
So whatever. Is there really anything you can’t do?
“Do you have to tell me now, Demirea?”
Lily, who was contemplating with her lips pursed, asked this.
“No. You can think about it for a long time and then tell me.”
“Then, I will ask you, Serie, and her mother, and decide on the best one.”
It was an unexpected answer.
Demirea looked at Arianne for a moment. However, when she saw that Arianne didn’t show much, she smiled softly at Riri.
Arianne was sitting next to her, fixing the blue ribbon around Coco’s neck and tying it beautifully. When she saw the words embroidered on the ribbon, ‘I am Coco, whose mother is the blue-haired leader,’ Arianne asked, making a sound of laughter. .
“Liri. Why don’t you ask the Little Duke?”
“You don’t have to ask Demirea.”
“why?”
“Dmirea likes the sword and me the best.”
She answered confidently
‘Right?’
She asks with the shape of her mouth. Demirea, gently stroking her Lyrie’s head, answered.
“Yes. That’s right.”
Actually, she likes Yan and Lirie the most.
“I have to ask you when I see you later. So, I have to tell you not to forget, Demirea.”
“Okay. I’ll be sure to tell you.”
Riri nodded her head, smiling as if it were the day I tried her chocolate milk for the first time.
“Aewon……”
Lucy, who had lost interest in her red ribbon before she knew it, called out to her Lyrie. Lyrie stood up from her seat and gently held Lucy in her arms. Then she followed Lucy and sat down at the fountain, leaving Anne, who had been distracted by the ribbon.
This is because the place where the setting sun fell the most was at the fountain. Because Lucy loved sunlight.
Arianne quietly drank her tea and put it down, avoiding the large duck that was sleeping with its head on her shoulder, and opened her mouth to Demirea, who was watching her Lyrie.
“You don’t have to worry about me. I already know what family that kid belongs to.”
“Yes. I thought you knew. But… I guess it’s become a habit now.”
“Habit? Does the Little Duke ever develop the habit of looking at others?”
“Aren’t there people who only see Lady Lin as the daughter of the Marquis Lin or as the fiancée of His Majesty the King of Secretia? I am like that too, but those views are particularly harsh on Riri.”
“Are you linking that kid to Briesen?”
“Or it reminds me of the Crown Prince. That’s generally true. That’s why I’m always worried that someone might look at her like that.”
Arianne asked, nodding her head in understanding.
“Isn’t that what Brisen pretends not to know? That’s what I heard. Is that right?”
“…… Yes. Gray Marquis Briesen has encountered Lyrie, but he is not paying much attention to Lyrie yet. In fact, he is pretending not to know. Evan or Lennon. Ah, Briesen. This is the marquis of and his son.”
“I know. Who it is.”
“Yes. Those two have never told the outside world about her Lyrie. In fact, it would be correct to say that Brisen does not recognize her Lyrie as their own blood relatives.”
“It would be better for them to pretend not to know her. It would be better than having an unnecessary dispute arise over who should be her successor.”
“I don’t know whether I should think it’s a good thing or whether I should feel angry. Actually, I don’t know.”
“Why don’t you just take Briesen away and bring him in to the Siegfried family?”
“I don’t think that’s up to me to decide.”
Anne, who had risen to her feet and stretched out her hands upward to grab the red ribbon hanging behind Arianne’s waist, fell backwards. Demirea, who had forgotten what she had said and was surprised for a moment, quickly turned her body over again and smiled as she saw Anne starting to straighten her fur. And she continued her answer to Arianne.
She said, “When Lyrie is a little older. When she is old enough to really think seriously and decide what she will be when she grows up. I think it would be right for her to decide then whether to continue using her last name as Briesen or change it to Siegfried.”
Arianne looked down at Demirea’s hand as she set down the teacup with a small noise.
She has numerous calluses that clearly prove that she is a sword wielder. Although she had already reached the position of Duke of Little and had learned all of her family’s swordsmanship a long time ago, she continued to practice swordsmanship without any intention of taking over the position.
Such a stubborn person was stubborn about nothing except bringing Lirie and protecting her. We just worry about the child’s future aspirations, which are likely to change several times a day. I don’t force anything.
The person who holds the highest position next to royalty would be surprised to see a cat fall backwards.
“Prince Calian boasted that the Duke of Duchess was a wonderful person. I didn’t half believe him because I thought he was even cooler than my fiancé. My fiancé was also a really cool person. But my friend’s fiancé was also a really cool person. ”
“Did the prince say that?”
“I did it a lot. It got to the point where I really thought I was going to join Siegfried.”
Demirea let out a small laugh.
She thought that no matter what, none of her missed promises and accumulated debt would be reduced.
“Actually, I didn’t know that the Duke of Duke was coming today, so I made an appointment in advance. If it’s okay, I think it would be better to invite him here and have dinner and play together. How about that?”
“I also have a prior engagement with the prince for dinner. And from what I heard, it seems like the prince didn’t get what he wanted today. So I don’t think there’s any need for me to spend the night here.”
After Calian announced, ‘I will be the crown prince, not my brother,’ he thought that a lot of attention would be paid to Dmirea, who was alone, so he planned to stay here. But listening to Jan, it seemed like the plan was foiled thanks to Plants. So there was no reason for her to hide from the palace.
“There are some important guests in the mansion right now. How about having dinner sometime later instead of today?”
“Ah. When I heard about Veronica, I heard that Lord Verne is at the Duke’s residence. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“That’s good. Then, I’ll see you again later, Lord Verne.”
Demirea nodded her head.
And she finally gave up her lingering attachment to the red ribbon and picked up the gray cat that came to visit and placed him on her lap.
She wonders what Riri wants to become.
She will tell you later which family name she will use.
Not like this.
I thought to myself that my doggy brother doesn’t do that, but he loses a lot of hair.
* * *
Sometimes something unfamiliar is better than something familiar.
When you feel like something is wrong. When you are curious about something new. When you need a change of mood. When you want to get rid of useless thoughts. and.
“If you called someone other than your younger brother, you should tell him.”
When all the familiar things only cause more hurt.
On days like that, it’s better to be unfamiliar.
At least Bern thought so. Because Bern was like that.
After Devlan died, it was not Chase, nor Louise or Kirie who rebuilt Bern, who had gradually become worn out and gone crazy. Because it was an unfamiliar world and unfamiliar people outside the palace.
Wouldn’t Planz, which looks a lot like Bern, be no different?
So I visited Planz under the guise of Bern.
Not Bern, who stood in front of the axis of time and talked to Plantz, who ‘hasn’t become the Mad King yet’, not old Calian, who looked at a red kaleidoscope and talked about blue flowers. Stop distinguishing between the Mad King and peas, and stop dividing Bern and old Calian. Not the current Kalyan. Just one day in Bern.
I don’t know exactly what he looked like, but in any case, he was Bern on a day when he must have been around the same age as Plantz. I returned briefly to Bern, which has nothing to do with Plants, and visited this place.
Is that thought right or wrong?
Anyway, Planz called Bern.
“If you don’t like it.”
“It’s okay. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have worn the bracelet.”
At most, they just call you and start looking at you.
I wonder if that call still hurts Bern.
I wonder if such a smart guy gave the wrong answer again.
“You always tell me you’re my younger brother or my older brother, and you don’t even let me speak informally. Did you make me look in the mirror so you can use it in times like this?”
If it had been Calian, I would have just said, ‘It’s okay,’ but Bern at this time wasn’t that round. As your appearance changes, your personality and speaking habits from that time come out so easily that it’s funny.
Below article.
‘I’m fine, so don’t worry about it and say whatever you want to say.’
do. It would be a bit strange to bring up Bern’s speaking habits before his death.
If that had been the case, that gentle pea might have stood up, clasped its hands together, and naturally used polite language. I wonder if the old Calian would have pointed out his speaking habits.
“…… mirror.”
“I looked in the mirror. You looked just as good-looking as I remembered.”
I thought it wouldn’t get any shorter, but Plantz’s words became extremely short. But I also understand it very well.
“Have you ever seen eyes like this? These are precious. My brother’s eyes aren’t this color either.”
“there is.”
“who.”
“Great Desert Dog.”
“……What dog?”
“In the book. Sled dogs.”
“no.”
“I heard so.”
“Not the book. Did you see it in person?”
“I didn’t see it.”
“I saw it.”
“…Are you bragging?”
“It’s different. Their eyes are blue. They’re different from mine. Is it normal to put a human’s eyes on a dog’s eyes in the first place? How do these eyes look like dog’s eyes? They’re precious human eyes.”
Is that a human or a dog?
After briefly looking at the person who was barking like a dog, not a cat or a person, Plantz gave up squatting and just sat on the floor. Regardless of whether the inside was cracked or the festering had burst, my legs were numb.
Bern grinned at that sight and sat down with his butt on the floor.
“when.”
“When did you see him?”
Nod.
“I don’t know exactly. About a few years later, a nobleman who liked dogs brought him here from the Great Desert. But Secretia is hot. So I had to hire a wizard to turn the whole house into a great desert. When Arianne and I saw that, we decided that that guy was a dog. “I didn’t know if I was growing it or growing it in the winter. I said something like that.”
“…Like a greenhouse.”
ah. I made a mistake.
Bern, who was fiddling with his long, flowing hair that fell under the hood, clenched his fists. She tried to change the mood, but she ended up reminding me of a greenhouse.
I guess I should have become a good adult who listened to my teacher who told me not to mess around for no reason.
“Uh… similar, but different. Dogs and flowers are definitely…”
ah.
Serenity.
-Slap!
Plantz chuckled when he saw Bern suddenly stop talking and slap his mouth. I can see what she was thinking.
“Ah… Anyway, it’s different.”
“okay.”
For example, it is an answer in the same context as Jan’s ‘I’m fooling you.’ Since it seems difficult to insist that it is different, the answer is to just pretend that it is.
Bern, who felt frustrated with himself, took down his hood after confirming that there were no eyes around him.
She had just lost Arianne’s braid, so she had tied her hair with Aela’s handkerchief. Then her loosely tied hair came loose and became a mess under her hood.
Plantz’s question was asked by Bern, who was starting to pull his long hair back into one piece.
“Hair. Since when?”
As was his habit, Bern quickly spit out the handkerchief he was holding in his mouth and searched his memory before giving his answer.
“Ever since I was young. When I was growing up, I looked very similar to my older brother and my physique wasn’t that different. Even though I was younger than my older brother, we were always the same height. It wasn’t obvious until I looked into his eyes. Marquis Lin called me 1 Didn’t you call him Prince? My mother, who saw him from afar, called her own son Bern. It wasn’t a big fuss, so I raised him. Later, his face changed a bit and I grew taller, but I continued to raise him. It suits him well. Because it happened.”
Plantz, who was now confused as to whether it was confidence or arrogance, just ignored the guy’s last words and opened his mouth.
“It would be uncomfortable.”
“It was uncomfortable. At first, there were many times when my hair was cut off by my sword, there was a time when I burned a chicken while eating it with knights outside, and there was a day when my head was sitting on my back and I almost broke my neck when I tried to bend down. There was also a time when I got caught by the head of my head while fighting.”
Plantz, who didn’t bother to ask what happened to the hands or neck of the other person who grabbed that head, nodded his head.
After finishing arranging his hair, Bern lowered his hand. The light green eyes that followed it landed on the bandage wrapped around his hand. Bern said, noticing Yang carefully assessing the condition inside the bandage.
“Okay. This too.”
As his hands got bigger, the wounds were bound to get bigger too.
Plantz, who had been looking at Bern’s hand for a while, looked down again. He saw small, tiny flower clusters. And again, after a while, he opened his mouth.
“… I came here because it was difficult. I don’t know any more.”
“what.”
“I heard that the pink-haired wizard who eats things with salt has no right answer. Is that really true?”
“I met Lord Jaya and had a good chat, and then I came out and found this place empty. So I came here and found a scentless flower blooming in this place that was always fragrant. I’m wondering if the change like that was because the answer was right or there was no right answer. So, the person who suffered the wound because of you comes to visit me. I don’t know whether it’s true or not that it happened because there is no right answer.”
Nod.
Bern, who was thinking for a moment about what to say, opened his mouth.
And he said something.
“When my father was alive, Aila noticed what I was doing. She asked me how many people I had killed because she smelled blood.”
How great it would be if you could bury and fix everything in the past with just one word. Because people aren’t capable of that in the first place. Sometimes they are okay, but soon they get locked up again.
“I was worried. Should I talk about it? Should I talk about it or not? Should I get rid of the things I couldn’t tell anyone and feel a little more at ease? What if I get comforted after being scolded? I thought about it… but I just decided. Tell someone. “Nothing will change, so what’s the point of letting people know about it? It’s useless.”
Nevertheless, in the end, life has to get better little by little.
“You said you wanted to become a knight like me. Ayla was very disappointed in me. So she became a sergeant and went to Kairis. Then her father sent Ayla to Tensil. Tensil was more dangerous than Kairis. Anyway, my “It was time to decide on a fiancé, and my fiancé couldn’t be from a family as powerful as Arianne. So I lied to my father. In fact, Aila was my fiancé. I asked her to send me back.”
I’ve been thinking about it just as much as you. It’s not because I want to let you know.
It’s not because I want to offer useless consolation that everyone is the same.
“Then, my father sent Aila alone to the most dangerous job. She was discovered, and Aila was a person who didn’t know how to run away. So in the end… On the day my father stopped breathing, I heard that Aila had died. We listened to it together.”
For no reason at all, she let out something in Flanz that she had never confided in anyone else.
“Is there no right answer in the world? I don’t think so. It’s my fault that I made Aila like that. It’s true that my choice for her was wrong.”
Plantz’s head nods again.
That means your wrong answer is correct.
Bern burst out laughing for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Was it right to pick up a sword instead of finding a way to hide and save a young child of Riri’s age? Was it right to keep his father alive instead of killing him? Was it right to kill so many people instead of him? Was it the right thing to do? The king of the next country sent Was it right to ignore the short letter?… I don’t think so.”
“I don’t think so.”
“right.”
Plantz, who once again reached out his hand and swept down Laricium, opened his mouth.
“Me too. I’ve been wrong a lot.”
I thought of the countless wrong answers I had given so far.
There was no right answer, but I remembered many things that were clearly wrong. I thought of the bandage wrapped around Bern’s hand.
“Yes. There are a lot of things wrong with both you and me.”
Bern spoke while looking at the flower that did not emit any scent even if it was swept away.
“But me. It was the right answer for me to become your knight. It was also the right answer for me to take out Kyrie and teach him the sword. Even though I left a lie to my brother, I didn’t take a step back until the last moment and stopped the king of the next country. “I think the right answer is the right answer. I think my last one was the perfect answer. What about you?”
“…… I am.”
Planz closed his eyes for a moment and opened his mouth.
“… Was it right that I went in through the third floor window?”
“I don’t know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Actually, your younger brother thought that too. So, let me ask you the answer directly. Your younger brother made up his mind and went to visit Sillike.”
To Silike.
Do you think it was right for your son to let go of your hand and jump into your arms? I wanted to ask so many other things besides that. Silike that day didn’t know that letting go of her hand and jumping into her arms meant someone’s life. In the end, I couldn’t ask.
Bern continued, thinking about that day.
“In the end, I couldn’t ask at the right time. I planted Renieri here and asked him, but I still didn’t get an answer. For your younger brother, that question ended up not being able to get an answer. I think Plants. You’ll probably spend the rest of your life, too. “I don’t think I’ll ever find the answer.”
“…… that’s right.”
“If there is no right answer, there is no wrong answer. I hope you don’t think that your whole life has been a result of wrong answers. What do you think, Plantz?”
Nod.
After a while, Bern, who was looking down at the moving pea head, took a long breath. And he brought up a story that Kalian had been unable to tell until now.
“Failure to prevent Silike that day. That is why you were unable to share the last word with Silike. In the end, that incident was engraved as a question for the rest of your life. That was clearly the wrong answer. Your younger brother thinks so.”
Plantz did not answer.
“Whether you resent it or apologize, you should have had that opportunity. Your younger brother is regretting it now.”
“I sincerely regret it.”
I struggled to raise my head and looked up at the bright red sky filled with the setting sun, then closed my light green eyes colored by the red sky.
My eyes are dazzling.
I bowed my head.
My eyes are dazzling. It’s really just dazzling.
Tuk.
Tuk-tuk.
Transparent things colored red in the light of the setting sun fell onto the scentless flowers.
Bern slowly closed his eyes and opened them.
I stayed by his side like that for a while.
“…… I’m sorry.”
Is it a consolation or an apology?
He said something that may or may not be correct.
